Abstract:
The purpose of this predictive correlation research was to examine the predictors of acute exacerbation among ninety-one chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients who had acute exacerbation during one month ago and visited out-patient department, at Ayutthaya Hospital, Ayutthaya Province. Simple random sampling technique was applied for recruiting the samples. Data was collected during November, 2013 to January, 2014. Instruments used in this study were The Demographic Data Questionnaire, Chula Mental Test, COPD Severity Evaluation Form, Co-morbidity Evaluation Form, The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) with its reliability of Cronbachs alpha of .80, The Regimen Adherence Evaluation Form with its content validity index and reliability of Cronbachs alpha of .87 and .76 respectively, and The AECOPD with its CVI of 1.0 . Ranges, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearsons product moment correlation coefficient, Spearmans rank correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression were computed for data analysis.
The results showed that the severity of AECOPD patients was at a moderate level (41.8%). The multiple regression analysis indicated that regimen adherence and co-morbidity significantly predicted AECOPD and accounted for 73.20 % (p < .001). The most influencing factor of AECOPD was regimen adherence (β = -.826, p < .001) and co-morbidity was the second predictor of AECOPD (β = .123, p < .05).
Findings suggested that nurse should promote regimen adherence and pay attention to control co-morbidity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in order to reduce the frequency and severity of acute exacerbation.